When Dreams Come True
by Sirius Horse Lover
Summary: [FINALLY BACK UP!]Alanna's life has shattered, and the only thing that she has left is her dreams, but when they come true it's not all that she'd expected or wanted. I've never seen another story like this one.MWPP. Some swearing and emotional problems
1. Worst Day Ever

Okaaaaaay, If anyone remembers or cares about this story, it's one that was taken off here because supposedly I stole it -rolls eyes-. I'd _love_ to know where they got that... But anyway, I won't start anything, but I _am_ rewriting the rest of this (and saving it this time...)

**Disclaimer: 99 percentof the characters and the entire world is JKRowling's, not mine. I only own Alanna.Don't sue me, you won't get much.**

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Alanna Reese was a normal fifteen-year-old girl from a normal family. Classified as a "Geek" at school, she had no friends, ate alone at lunch, and lived in a fantasy world. 

She read her favorite books, the Harry Potter series, over and over, always willing herself to just disappear into that world. Alanna had a crush on Sirius Black, not the hottest guy in school, she wanted to see a Unicorn, not ride a horse. She wanted a Phoenix to talk to, not a Parrot, and most of all, she wanted friends who loved her so much that they'd die for her if they had to, and she for them.

Alanna sighed as she picked at her food during lunch; she glanced over at the people sitting at the table on the other side of the room. All of the grades ate together, and her brother, Daniel, was sitting there, hazel eyes sparkling with their usual amusement and he was surrounded by what seemed to be dozens of friends. He didn't even seem to notice his sister. 'How could he just ignore me? I'm his damn sister for God's sake', She thought, thoroughly annoyed that he had so many friends while she had none. Of course, she had those 'friends' that would come up to her around the time of a test or project, use her to ace the test before ditching her to be by herself again. It bothered her, but not enough to make her change, for she enjoyed the company of another person, even if it was all an act.

She sighed and gave up on her food, pushing it aside. With a last wistful glance at Dan's table full of laughing seniors, Alanna hid her grey eyed, slightly freckled face behind 'The Order of The Phoenix' and drifted off into her own world once again:

"The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive. Cars that were usually gleaming stood dusty in their drives and lawns that were once emerald green lay parched and yellowing- for the use of hose pipes had been banned due to the drought. Deprived of their usual car washing and lawn mowing pursuits, the inhabitants of Privet Drive had retreated into the shade of their cool houses, windows thrown open wide in the hope to tempt a non-existent breeze. The only person left outdoors was a teenage boy, who was lying flat on his back in a flowered garden outside number four."

"Excuse me, Miss Reese," Alanna put her book down and stared up into the teacher's grave brown eyes. Her breath caught in her chest.'Dammit, can this day get any worse? What could I have possibly done to get in trouble?'

"Come with me to the office, you can finish your lunch later." she said, showing absolutely no emotion to give away the reason for fetching Alanna. She closed her book and quickly threw the rest of her lunch in the rubbish bin, not noticing that her brother had already left his group of friends.

The teacher said nothing to her as she walked briskly towards the office. Alanna just ran her hands through her shoulder length dark brown hair nervously. When they got there she wanted to stop and run away. Her brother was there. That meant there had to be a problem.

'Am I in trouble?' Alanna thought. 'Why aren't my parents here, why's _Dan_ here?' Thousands of possibilities swarmed through her head, but it was not until she glimpsed Dan's tearstained face that she was absolutely certain something was wrong. Dan didn't justcry without reason. Or really at all, for that matter, except when his hamster died...

"What happened?" Alanna blurted looking from the principal to the teacher to her brother. Dan shook his head and took a step forward, enveloping her in a large hug. 'Oh no, oh nonononono!' She thought. 'Dan doesn't just hug me, ever, what's wrong!'

"Your mother and father got into a car accident with a semi truck," The teacher said solemnly. "I'm afraid they didn't survive the impact."

Alanna just stood there. Her world had just stopped spinning and came to a terrifying screeching halt.

"Sorry," she squeaked, "but did I hear properly?" She was too upset to even cry, she wanted to just curl into a little ball and disappear. 'That's it? She thought, Just like that? They're dead! That's all they cantell me!'

The principal nodded sadly. "It's been arranged for your aunt in America to take custody of you two, but she can't come for another three days. I trust you and your brother are old enough to stay home by yourselves for the next few days?" The principal said, looking between the two grief stricken kids. "You two are excused from school seeing as you are moving out of the country..." Alanna nodded slowly, still in shock, but she stopped listening. No, this wasn't happening... this couldn't be happening...

-&-

The next two days Alanna cried and cried and cried. That was all she could do. She didn't eat and she didn't sleep. All she did was wish, wish she could live in the Harry Potter world. Escape from her sad excuse for a life, she did NOT want to move to the states, stupid yanks, and she did not want to move in with her aunt.

Her brother tried to make her feel better but nothing worked. She was so mad she wanted to scream, and did a few times.

This CAN'T be happening! She thought the night before her aunt was due to come, she jumped on her bed and grabbed her pillow, pushing her face into the soft fabric and not caring who heard her, she began chanting,"I want to go to Hogwarts! I want to be a witch, be friends with the Marauders, and have no problems!" She fell asleep, hugging her pillow as if afraid if she loosened her grip she'd lose everything she had left.

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Unfortunately, this is the only chapter I had saved on my computer. -fumes- I'm willing to rewrite the rest of it though if people still want to read it. Please review, I'll love you forever! And I have cookies! 


	2. Meeting Dumbledore

Thanks soooooo much to all of you who reviewed! I'd thank you all seperately but if this gets taken down again I'm not going to put it back up so just know that I am eternally thankful!

Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own any of this except a few measly characters that I made up. Don't sue, it's not worth your time or money. And you won't get anything. I'm broke. :D

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Alanna woke up without opening her eyes. _I don't wan't to go to my aunt's. I want to die_, she thought, considering whether it was worth it to throw herself out of the second floor window. She groaned and forced herself to open her eyes. Gasping at what she saw, she jumped out of the unfamiliar bed and looked wildly around. _Where the hell am I?_

The room that she was in had four other beds that were a deep rich shade of red with gold trim and they all had some sort of curtain pulled around them. Panicked, she looked around wildly for a way out. There were two doors and she ran to the first one, swinging it open. She almost ran straight into a bathroom. Skidding to a stop and turning around, she ran to the other door and flung herself out. She was in a hallway with several doors on either sides, but what she was focused on were the stairs at the end, she ran towards them as fast as she could and practically tripped down the stairs.

When she got to the bottom she gasped again at the sight of a large ancient-looking room with a rug with the same deep red and gold as the beds, several overstuffed chairs and couches and a fireplace which a few glowing embers exsisted. At the sound of her gasp a dark haired boy turned around momentarily to see who had come down, before looking back towards the fire. He double took and looked back at her, raising his eyebrows.

"Who are you and where the hell am I?" Alanna manged faintly, taking a few steps forward but still keeping her distance.

The boy raised his eyebrows even higher until they pretty much dissapeared into his messy black hair. "Are you kidding me?" He asked, grinning as he stood up. She could tell that he was probably almost a head taller than her, as she wasn't the tallest of her age, and now that he was facing her she could see that he had shining hazel eyes.

"What do you mean? Do I look like I'm effing kidding you? Who _are_ you?" She repeated, strugglingto keep her anger in check as she answered his question.

He laughed, seeming to think this was all a big joke. "I dunno, Santa Claus?" He said sarcastically. "What year are you in?"

"What? I'm serious, where the hell am I?" She felt about ready to slap the boy.

"Have you been playing around with memory charms?" He asked, suddenly getting a little more serious. Alanna was suddenly reminded of Harry Potter. What the hell was this guy talking about? She suddenly had the urge to get out again. She ran towards another hallway but only ended up in front of a locked door, she swung around and ran straight into the boy, who she didn't even realize had followed her. Now his amused expression had changed slightly to a confused one.

"Err, were you looking for the passage out?" he raised his eyebrows and gestured to her left, to a slightly raised hole in the wall that was covered by wall on the other wall that she had obviously missed in her panic. She started towards the door without saying anything but he grabbed her arm, pulling her back. "Is something wrong? Maybe you should see Madame Pomfrey... It's four O'Clock in the morning though, why are you awake?"

Alanna could have asked him the same question but she stopped paying attention after he mentioned the name Madame Pomfrey. That was definatley from Harry Potter. Pulling her arm out of his grip she said, "Tell me who thebloodyhell you are right now. Or I'll... I'll... do something." She finished lamely.

He humored her, "James Potter, nice to meet you. Now what's going on?" Alanna's eyes widened. _No... this.. can't..._ Then she looked at him. Messy black hair, hazel eyes...

"No..."

"Yeah." He said, laughing again.

She wanted so much to believe she was in Hogwarts, she wanted to believe that this was James Potter in front of her, but she couldn't. She wouldn't. It was simply impossible. "Prove it," She said breathelessly.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"Prove it." She repeated in a stronger voice. "Do a spell." He looked even more confused.

"Are you kidding?" He asked for the second time in their conversation. She gave him such an intense look that there was no mistaking how serious she was. Rolling his eyes slightly, he pulled out his wand and Alanna stopped hereself from gasping in shock. He looked in deep thought for a moment and then pointed his wand at a chocolate frog wrapper that someone had left on the floor near where they stood. He muttered something and suddenly a pure white kitten was in its place, looking around curiously. Alanna gasped and reached for the kitten. It hissed and ran under the couch. "Satisfied? Now, do you need to go to the Hospital Wing?"

"Er, no." Alanna managed, trying to keep a look of disbelief off of her face as she racked her brain for something to say. _Dumbledore!_ She realized and said quickly. "Where's Professor Dumbledore's office?"

James glanced at his watch before speaking, "I'll show you. It's not too far. Just on the floor below us." He led the way out of the common room into a large hallway. Alanna was shocked to see that the pictures of people and animals were moving. She had read about them on countless occasions but the real thing was amazing. As was the spectacular architecture of the castle. For a few minutes neither person said anything and Alanna wondered what year James was in. He seemed to be somewhat sane and hadn't said anything rediculously egotistical yet and was most definately taller than her so she figured he was probably at least her age.

Finally he spoke, breaking the somewhat uncomfortable silence. "So what year are you in? I haven't seen you around."

"Er..." She thought as they took another turn and finally went down a staircase. "I'm fifteen," She said evasively. His eyebrows furrowed.

"Really? Me too. That's odd... are you? Nevermind, this is it and I've gotta go wake some friends up." He grinned mischievously. "Two days ago the password was Treacle Tart, so that's probably what it is now. See you. Oh wait, what's your name again?"

"Alanna Reese. Bye. And thanks, I think..." She said the password to the gargoyle as James left and watched in amazement as it leapt away, revealing a moving staircase similar to a muggle escalator. She stepped on and knocked on the only door once she got to the top.

An old wise voice said, "Come in." Alanna was so shocked at how different the Headmaster's voice sounded in real life and made herself turn the handel and walk in. As she couldn't stop herself from taking a sharp intake of breathe at the sights. The first thing she noticed was that the Headmaster was wearing faded blue pajamas with stars and clouds on them. After she got over her shock over the Headmaster's apparel, she noticed all of the amazing gadgets and gizmos and the paintings of headmasters and headmistress' past which were either sleeping or pretending to in their frames. She bit her lip, trying not to stare and waited for the Headmaster to gesture to a seat in front of his desk.

"Hello, young lady, you are not a student here, am I correct?" She noticed that his hair was not completely gray, but there were a few streaks of auburn in it.

"N-no." She said in a shaky voice. The dreamlike feeling of terror she'd had since she awakened was beginning to dissapate and was being replaced by a very real feeling of terror, she wanted to go home, she wanted her parents and brother. Dumbledore's voice pushed the thought of her parents to the back of her mind as he spoke again.

"Ah, so tell me, what do you see when you look around?"_ Huh? What kind of question of that?_ She looked around before replying.

"A lot of unreal stuff... Moving pictures, the gargoyle was... alive..." She tried to sound totally oblivious to the world.

"You do not see a rundown old place?" He asked curiously. She shook her head.

Dumbledore pulled at his long beard thoughtfully. "How did you arrive here, may I ask? Tell me everything that's happened since your arrival."

"I don't know. I just woke up here in a room with lots of beds. I went down through a door into a large living room type place and there was a boy down there named James Potter and he brought me here." She left out some things but he nodded his head as he listened intently.

"Mister Potter? Yes, he would know the password." He chuckled softly then took out his wand. "Well, there must be a reason for your presence here. Please allow me to perform a simple spell on you. It won't hurt. It will simply tell me if you are capable of performing magic. In other words, if you are a witch." He raised the wand and Alanna closed her eyes. It felt like cold water was being poured on her and she gasped and opened her eyes, expecting to see herself sopping wet in freezing water, but found that she was entirely dry and getting back to her normal body temperature.

The Headmaster was nodding approvingly. "It appears, Miss Reese, that you are in fact a witch." Alanna felt the chills for a moment. How did he know her name? Had she told him?

Shaking her head, she asked slowly, "So what does that mean?"

"It means that you may be sorted and begin your wizarding education. Though it will take a while and some hard work for you to catch up with the others in your year. However, your family must be informed. Where is it that you live?"

Alanna suddenly got a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Er... Bath, but..." She stopped, thinking of how to word what she had no choice but to say.

"Yes?"

"When I went to sleep yesterday, it was September fifth, 2005." She quickly made up a story to excuse this comment. "I saw a calender in the room I was in before and it said..." C'mon, do the math... think! They started in '70 and James said he's fifteen... "1975... That can't be right, can it?"

The headmaster nodded gravely. "Ah, that _is_ a predicament. Well then, I suppose you may have no choice at the moment. You will begin your education here and we will see if it's possible to get you back to your own time period. This is very odd. Very odd indeed..." He muttered the last two sentences to himself. "Well then, you might as well be sorted now. No reason to delay any longer." He stood and Alanna say his starry pajamas again. She knew if she was in any other situation she would laugh at the site but now she was far too worried.

The sorting hat looked unbelievably old and beaten but still looked like it would live on (if any inanimate object is ever really alive...) for ages to come. Dumbledore explained to her what was going to happen when the sorting hat was put on her head and everything about the four houses, and she found that it was exactly like the books. Briefly she wondered if JKRowling was a witch and figured she had to be as the hat was eased on to her head.

_Hmm. That's odd. How do you know so much? Books? Interesing. Very interesting. Well, let's see here. Not Hufflepuff or Slytherin, you'd be an abysmal Slytherin._

"Thanks a lot," She muttered sarcastically to the hat, slightly annoyed that she was being insulted by an inanimate object. The Sorting Hat continued.

_Either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. You are very bright. I'd say Ravenclaw, but you're very stubborn and act whimsically I can also see. And you've got courage, too bad it's hidden under so much doubt..._

"Please _Gryffindor_ then." She whispered.

"All right, Gryffindor it is!" The Hat proclaimed proudly. Alanna smiled for the first time in days and took her new Gryffindor robes from the headmaster with the hope that maybe her life was going to turn around.

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In the original I had this general idea in two chapters but they were short so I wrote a sorta longer second chapter. Please review! I'll love you forever and I have cookies and muffins:D 


	3. Shopping

Thanks soooo much guys for all the awesome reviews! -hands out BLUEBERRY Muffins and cookies- (hehe!) I'd thank you all individually but if this story gets taken down again I don't think I'll have the drive to put it back up again... so just know that I'm very thankful. :D 

I'm soooo sorry that it took me so long to update, but I'm in all honors classes in school and I have soooo much workkkk. -hides- I have some more excuses, including that someone in my school died not too long ago in a car accident... but I'll stop there... 

Sorry again for the lack of updating-ness. I promise I haven't given up on any of my stories though... if anyone REALLY wants me to update something they can just harass me through reviews and I'll be motivated. :D 

Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine. And guess what? It never will be, so please don't sue. :D

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Alanna went back to the Gryffindor tower to put away her robes and discovered upon arrival that another bed, night table with a light and trunk had been arranged at the end of the girls' dormitories. Dumbledore had told her to return to his office as soon as she was finished. She stuck her robes in her trunk and began to bound towards the stairs before catching a glance at her appearance from a full-length mirror at the end of the room. She was still wearing the clothes she had been wearing in school that one day. A little grossed out, she changed into a pair of her new Hogwarts robes, cast a final wistful glance at the bathroom, promising herself to take a shower later, and ran down the staircase and out of the common room towards Dumbledore's office. 

Once she arrived at the Headmaster's office, she knocked on the door. "Come in," Dumbledore said, and she opened the door, walking in. There was a young woman there. Her light brown hair was pulled into a messy bun and her deep brown eyes sparkled with vivacity. 

"Hiya!" The girl greeted, excitement lining her voice. "My name's Amable Stevens. You can call me Mabel though. We're going shopping!" 

Alanna's eyes went a little wide for a moment before she recovered. "I.. er, nice to meet you. I'm Alanna…" 

Dumbledore smiled pleasantly, "Well, you two should probably be off to Hogsmede." He shooed them out the door and Alanna and Amable were alone. Alanna bit her lip nervously as Amable led the way towards Hogsmede, chattering the entire time. 

"… so, you're a Gryffindor? I was too! I only graduated three years ago and I'm still in school to be an Auror… Oooh, we're there! Where should we go first? Gladrags? No… let's go to Ye Olde Wand Shoppe. It's not got as good a reputation as Ollivanders, but it'll definitely do…" With that, Alanna was dragged off towards the wand shop that she hadn't heard off from the books.

She arrived to see the shelves lined with long rectangular boxes of different sizes and colorsand a middle-aged man carving something at a desk. The man looked up and smiled widely. "Ms. Stevens! I remember when you had to get a new wand here after snapping your first in a quidditch accident... Have you done something else to the poor wand now?" 

Mabel grinned. "Hiya. Surprisingly enough, I've actually kept it in one peice since then. I'm here today to get Alanna here a wand," She smiled and gestured towards Alanna. 

The man's dark eyes widened as he perked up and smiled broadly, acting as if he had not seen Alanna until that point. "Hello there, young lady. Is this your first wand?" Alanna nodded slightly, still a bit freaked out about the whole magic being real thing. 

"Well then, let us not dawdle any longer. Come, try this." He held up the wand that he'd just finished making, scattering dust around. Alanna hesitantly picked it up and stared at it for a moment, unsure of whether she should try and wave it or not. The man nodded encourageingly. "Just don't point it at me," He laughed. This got a bit of a smile out of Alanna and she waved the wand at the wall behind him. There was a small explosion and Alanna dropped the wand in surprise, causing it to issue a stream of smoke before laying still. 

"Oh dear, not that one... try this." He handed her a slightly shorter wand. Alanna took it with reluctance and handed the first wand to the man, happy to be rid of it. Cautiously, she pointed the wand at the floor and waved it. Her hands felt warm and a purpleish light emenated from the wand. Mabel grinned and the man nodded approvingly. "I'm getting good at this, I am," He said with a smile. "That would be ten inches, maple and Unicorn hair core... very good for charms." 

After getting her wand, Alanna and Mabel proceeded to buying Alanna's school books and robes, which went without incident. When the two got back to Hogwarts, Mabel waved a cheery good-bye, grinning. "Don't forget to owl me if you need someone to shop with!" She added, smiling, before walking off down toward the front gates of the castle.

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I'm sooo sorry for the abrupt ending, I just needed to get this out. I'll try really hard to get the next chapter out soon. My apoligies once again for this taking so long. 


	4. The Marauders

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, it still is not mine. 

A few notes: 

Firstly, I'm sorry for taking my dear time again... 

Secondly, I apologise greatly for my sinful use of metaphor(s) and just the english language in general (you will understand this after the second paragraph.) 

I'm a little disheartened by the lack of reviews (a.k.a, no reviews) But I suppose I deserve it for my lack of updateness. :( anywho, I'd lurrvvvve if you guys could spare a review for this chapter? I promise I'll update faster if I get a lot of reviews (really!) 

Also, this is probably the only _really _important part of this author's note. **I'm making this be a post HBP fic, sooo there _will_ be spoilers.** You've been warned. 

Anywho, to the story... finally...

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Alanna finally stepped into the shower, closing her eyes as she savored the lulling effect of the hot water. She had looked at the clock moments before and deducted that she could enjoy a short shower before going off to dinner. 

_What will I do when I get there? _Suddenly the gravity of the situation hit her harder than a flying brick. _Where are my parents and Dan? Oh God, what if they aren't around now... they must be..._ young_, if they are. And Dan isn't born yet... Oh my God. I still have no family. And now I'm not going to see Dan ever again either. What am I doing here? _She finished washing up, changed into her new clothes, and looked in the mirror as she brushed her dark shoulder length hair. 

A few minutes later Alanna was making her way down several staircases. It didn't take long for her to figure out that she was dreadfully lost. 

--- 

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were ambling down the hallway, on their way to lunch from Transfiguration. They were laughing at something stupid that Peter had just said. Suddenly James stopped dead, causing Peter, who was still hysterical (though he hadn't the foggiest idea of _what_ exactly they were laughing at), to run into him. 

Sirius only laughed harder, "Prongs, mate, what are you doing?" 

Slowly, a smile grew on James' face. "I've had an epiphany." 

Sirius snorted and Remus rolled his eyes. "Oh?" 

"Well.." He pulled the map out of his pocked and looked around before muttering, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." As the map appeared before him, he said to the others. "Just a pre-dinner prank for dear snivelly. Where _is_ that git..." 

The three other marauders had gathered around him so as to get an equal look at the map. After a moment, Remus pointed. "There he is. Third floor, near the Charms classroom... who's that he's with? Your dear brother, Sirius, and... Alanna Reese? Is that another Slytherin?" 

James shrugged. "Proba-- wait a second. _Alanna Reese_? She's that new Gryffindor in our year! Let's go before those slimy gits corrupt her..." 

--- 

Alanna was still wandering around aimlessly when she heard a silky voice from behind her. "Oi, _mudblood_." 

She breathed in sharply and spun around. "wh-who are you?" She was trying to regain her composure, and put her hand in her pocket to make sure that her wand was there, even though she couldn't use it. The boy stepped from the shadows, and another boy came from behind him. The first boy was a few inches taller than the second. He had greasy black hair that fell limply around his sallow face, but failed to cover his hooked nose. Behind him was a rather handsome boy with dark hair and eyes. They both wore Slytherin robes and pretentious smirks. 

"So you're the new mudblood Potter's on about? How _pathetic._" 

"Snape?" Alanna whispered in an undertone, and promptly bit her lip. 

"What did you say?" 

Alanna recovered quickly this time. "I said, you're lame. You don't scare me, ass hole." _Actually,_ she thought,_ that _comeback_ was lame... And after the Half Blood Prince, you might scare me a little..._

Snape's hand flew to his pocket. He pointed his wand at Alanna and before she knew it she was flying backward until her head collided with the stone wall with a crack. She gasped for air for a moment, having had the wind knocked out of her, and groaning, put her hand on the back of her head to feel sticky blood. 

She whipped her wand out of her pocket, hoping to heaven that she could use it, when the boy behind Snape put his hand on the older boy's shoulder. "Severus, forget about her. Do you really care that a _mudblood_ called you an ass hole? _I_ wouldn't even acknowledge her. Let's go." 

Snape stayed frozen for a moment before pocketing his wand. He turned on his heel and strode purposefully away. The other boy lingered for a moment before following his friend. Alanna had half a mind to tear after them and seek vengeance, but her painfully throbbing head, dizziness and common sense told her that wasn't the most clever idea. 

Instead she put her wand back in her pocket and sat down for a moment, closing her eyes. She took a few steadying breaths and stood up. _I'm certainly not going that way,_ she thought, and began walking in the opposite direction that the two Slytherins had dissapeared to. 

She hadn't been walking for long when she ran into the marauders. She looked to the floor and tried to pretend she didn't see them, but they saw her. 

"Hey, Alanna!" James and who Alanna could only assume were the three other marauders were walking up to her. "These are my friends, Remus, Peter and Sirius," He motioned to each boy in turn, but Alanna didn't need an introduction, she knew who they were immediately. _Wow, Sirius is _hot She shook her head. 

"Hi...er... nice to meet you guys..." Oh my gosh, they're all dead. All except Remus... How can I make friends with them knowing their fate? 

"Pleasure to meet you, fair lady," Sirius said with an extravagent bow. 

Remus knocked him on the top of the head. "Excuse him," he added in an undertone, "His mum dropped him as a baby, poor dear, I'm afraid he's never been quite right since then." 

Alanna grinned, and sirius huffed, "You know, Remus, when my mum dropped me, I didn't lose my sense of hearing." 

"Yeah," James added with a lop-sided grin, "It's sharp as a _dog's_, eh?" The Marauders all laughed (Peter a hair later than the rest) and Alanna bit her lip to hide a smile, having understood what James had meant by that comment. 

"Soooo," James said in a failedattempt to be nonchalant. "Did you, er, perhaps, bump into our dear friend snivellus?" 

Alanna blinked, her headache suddenly seared again, as if being brought on by the mention of Snape. 

"Errrrrrr... I dunno," She said, remembering to play dumb. "Is he that right foul greasy-haired, hook nosed git I had the displeasure to meet a few moments ago?" She inquired, suddenly remembering her anger from before. 

"Sounds like a fair accurate description," Sirius said with a slight smile. James nodded fervently and Peter's eyes widened as he supressed a girlish giggle. 

Remus, however,furrowedhis brow in concern. "Did he do something to you?" 

Alanna made a face and sighed, shaking her head and simultaneously causing a pang of sharp pain to shoot up the back of her head. "No, not really..." 

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Not _really_? What'd he do? We'll blast him to bits." 

"No, I started it, really. I called him an ass hole and he just sort of cursed me is all. Oh yeah, and called me a mudblood," At the last moment, she remembered to add, "What's that?" 

Sirius growled and James and Remus looked furious. "It means someone who's blood isn't purely magical. Not that his his. Don't listen to him, he's a complete arse. He _cursed _you?How? What'd he say? What'd it do?" 

Alanna laughed, she felt like she knew these guys forever. "It was nothing, I just sort of flew back. I'm all right though... but, I could definately use some food. Do you guys know where the Great Hall is?" She blushed, "Well, I mean, of _course_ you know where it is, what I mean is--" 

"I thought you'd never ask!" Sirius grinned and began to flounce in the direction that she'd come from.

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Again, sorry it took forever, but it's kinda longer than usual! And to those who read it before it was taken down, I know I've totally changed the plot... it's not completely changed later though. 

you know what would be uber cool? You see that little 'review' button? Go press it and say something! I don't care if you just say, "hello!" or "Muffin," or you actually give me a review... (though the latter would be nice) :) 


	5. Lily

I'm soooooooooooo uberly sorryyyy for the lack ofupdateness, and the lack of action in this chapter -hides- I'll update even more often if people review moreeee Thanks muchly for those who did review. You all get cookies and muffins. 

Disclaimer:_ Still_ not mine... 

! Once again, just a reminder that there will definately be **HBP spoilers** in this fic.

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It would have taken the marauders and Alanna less than five minutes to walk down to the Great Hall, had they not been moseying along, laughing at things James, Sirius and Remus said, and normally things that Peter did, rather than anything he may have said (not excluding when he ran straight into a wall while laughing at something Sirius had said). 

Finally, they walked through the giant-sized doors leading to the Great Hall. The moment Alanna's eyes met the sight of the magnificently charmed ceiling -- Now, a starry, cloudless night, she stopped dead in her tracks and gaped in wonder. 

James grinned. "It's neat, eh? It's still cool to me after five years here." If Alanna were to choose a word to describe the ceiling, and the room in general, 'neat' would most definitely be on the 'wayyy understatement' part of her mind, but she wasn't paying much attention to him anyway. Sirius and Peter had run off to the table so quickly that one might be put under the impression that the food would disappear if they ran any slower, and Remus and James began to walk after them. Alanna tore her gaze from the ceiling and followed slowly, still taking in the scene surrounding her. 

Alannawas snapped rather abruptly out of her reverie when a strong feminine voice yelled, "Potter!" She looked at James just in time to see his hand fly to his hair, ruffling it up messier than it was before. 

"I know you missed me Evans, but if you're going to reject me so much you shouldn't seem so obvious," He grinned lopsidedly. Sirius shook his head, raising his eyebrows but still smiling and Remus was pretending he couldn't hear them. Peter didn't have to pretend; he was utterly engrossed by his food. 

"YOU -- STUPID -- BLOODY -- ARROGANT -- PRAT!" Lily Evans bellowed. Her dark red hair was down and shifted on her shoulders as she stomped up to him. Her green eyes seemed electrified with fury. It was obvious that she didn't notice that by now most of the Hufflepuff table as well as some of the Ravenclaws and Slytherins, were staring at her; Though it wasn't an uncommon spectacle to see Lily Evans reaming at James Potter, it _was_ unusual for her to do it in the middle of the Great Hall during dinner. Alanna wondered what James could have possibly done to make her so infuriated. He had seemed pretty normal in the time she spent with him. It seemed as though he felt by being arrogant he was impressing her. Alanna was definitely not getting that kind of vibe. 

James seemed relatively unfazed, and didn't move as she advanced toward him. "That wasa lot of adjectives, Evans. I thought you normally phrased your sentences more eloquently." Lily's face grew more red, and for a moment it looked like she was going to smack him. There was a split second silence. 

"Eloquent my arse! I know that you're behind all of those dungbombs in the fifth year girl's dormitories. Do you know how long it took us to clean that up!" By this time her face was so red that it was clashing wildly with her fiery hair. Suddenly her gaze caught Alanna's and she double took. "And I bet you've been annoying the new girl. Argh. Just get away from me!" Without waiting for an answer, she strode over to Alanna. 

"Hi, I'm not always like that, I mean. Urgh, he just sets me off! Sorry though. I'm Lily Evans. I'm a fifth year and a prefect, so if you need any help with anything, you can always talk to me." Her face was returning to it's normal pale ivory and she smiled slightly. 

Alanna was stunned into silence for a moment. She knew that Lily Evans was not afraid to speak her mind, but she had never expected her to be so loquacious. "Er, Hi. I'm Alanna Reese. It's nice to meet you," She once again was unpleasantly reminded that she was speaking with someone who was no longer living in Alanna's own time. She stole a glance at The Marauders. James had given up on having any kind of sane conversation with Lily and was sitting next to Sirius and across from Remus and Peter, talking in hushed tones and throwing the occasional glance at Lily and Alanna. Alanna felt bad for ditching them, but didn't feel as though she had much of a choice as Lily continued to speak. 

"I'm sorry Alanna, why don't you come and sit with my friends and I? I'll introduce you to everyone." She smiled and Alanna uncertainly nodded her head before following her to the table. Suddenly she thought of home again, and wished she could just go back and everything would just be normal, but she knew things would never be normal again, even if she did somehow miraculously go back. 

Back at the table, two girls were chatting and laughing. One was very short and petite. She had straight, shoulder-length hair that was so white that Alanna wondered briefly if she was albino. Her eyes were a pale blue andthere was a certain feeling resonatingfrom her that made oneknow she was not one to be messed with.In contrast to the first girl, theother girlhadolive skin and dark wavy hair down to her waist. She had high cheekbones which rested below slightly slanted eyes, which were so dark that Alanna couldn't make out her pupils. They stopped talkingas Lily and Alanna approached and both smiled. 

Alanna smiled back, suddenly wishing she didn't have boring dark brown hair, gray eyes and her stupid nose that curved up at the end. Her brother always made fun of her, saying it looked like a ski-jump. 

Lily sat down, motioning for Alanna to do the same. "Hey guys, this is Alanna Reese, she's new here. Alanna, this is Emily Sullivan," She gestured to the fair girl. "And Sarah Marino," She nodded to her other friend. 

Both of the girls smiled, Emily's "Hello, nice to meet you," was almost drowned out by Sarah's "Hiya!" 

"Nice to meet you guys too," Alanna momentarily forgot about her head's dull throbbing but she had to force herself to smile._ I shouldn't feel happy, my parents are dead andI'll never see Dan again. I didn't even get to say good-bye to them..._ She suddenly felt so guilty for not having gone to their wake and funeral, and her headache returned with a vengeance. 

"Are you all right?" Lily enquired, looking as though she thought she'd done or saidsomething wrong. 

Alanna blinked and nodded, her smokey eyes took on a glassy shine and she prayed tears wouldn't escape her eyes. _Talk about a bad impression! Think about something else... magic, isn't it going to be so great to learn magic?_ She blinked several more times. "Yes i'm fine... just thinking." 

"So, when did you come here?" 

----- 

At the other end of the table, James suddenly put his fork down halfway through eating a large piece of meat. He stole a glance toward the side of the table that Evans and Alanna were sitting, and thought back to the morning before. 

"She's very strange," He said, suddenly remembering most of their conversation. Remus seemed to understand, but Sirius beat him to words. 

"Hustrange?" He said through a full mouth. Peter laughed, almost spraying pumpkin juice out of his nose (which, of course, only made him laugh harder.) 

Before Sirius could make another attempt at the question, Remus cut in. "You mean Alanna? How so?" He hadn't been eating much to begin with, as he was still getting over the full moon, but at the prospect of reasonable conversation, he pushed his plate slightly aside. 

"Well... I mean..." James squinted, as if that would aid him in remembering. "She seemed to know about magic... I mean, no, she definately did. I mean, I don't know if she did a lot, but... You know what I mean?" 

Remus laughed and Sirius blinked several times. "Not really..." 

"...Three..." 

"What Moony?" James gave his friend a look. 

"I was counting the amount of times you said 'I mean' in that horribly formed sentence of yours... It's actually four if you count the last one..." He showed a shadow of a smile but nothing more, considering how serious James looked, for once in his life. 

"James, mate, you feeling all right there? You haven't said a smart arse remark or askedEvans out for almost five minutes," Sirius was still grinning. James rolled his eyes. 

"Seriously though, I never mentioned anything about magic, and she asked me to prove I could do it. But then, she asked to see Dumbledore. How would she know about him?" 

Remus was silent for a moment, eyes calculating. "That is strange. Are you sure that you never mentioned anything about magic though? I'm sure there's a reasonable explaination." 

James wracked his memories and sighed, "You're probably right, I'm probably said someth-" 

Seeming to have finally picked up on the conversation (or at least just talking for the first time) Peter cut him off. "I don't like her. Did any of you notice that she didn't directly adress me at all? Except when she said hello. That was it." 

"Really? That's--" 

Sirius was cut off abrubtly by Dumbledore's start of term speech.

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Pleaase review? You know you want to XP 


	6. Conniving little biatch

Thanks so much to everyone who's review this. You are all so awesome! And I think this is the first time I've posted since I've turned 16 on Oct. 31 Yay.

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Alanna had talked with Lily, Emily and Sarah throughout the feast, but was sidetracked throughout most of it. She was unable to focus greatly on anything other that her increasing headache and feeling of emptiness after all of these abrupt events. 

Alanna stayed up in bed for what seemed to be hours, feeling sorry for herself and wallowing in her self-pity, before finally forcing herself to stop being ridiculous and to go to bed.

When she awoke the next morning, it was to an ungodly loud and obnoxious alarm, which she attempted unsuccessfully to ignore for several minutes before Sarah jumped on her bed exuberantly, jarring her into wakefulness.

"You're going to make us all lateeee," She was decidedly far too cheery for six O'clock AM, Alanna concluded quickly. She opened her eyes groggily and rubbed them until she could see somewhat clearly. Sarah had jumped off of her bed and was grabbing the deep red covers, ready to pull them off of Alanna in another attempt of waking the girl.

"I'm up, I'm up; seriously," Alanna said in a cracking morning voice, she sat up and examined the warping wooden floor as she attempted to get her bearings. She looked up again to see that Sarah and Emily were both dressed, as well as the two other girls in their year, neither of whom did Alanna know the names of.

One was a slightly heavy girl who had a pretty face with dark eyes and wispy auburn hair, she was rather tall and was presently attempting to fit into robes that were at least half a size too small. ("I don't know why these aren't fitting, Abby; they fit me last year just fine...")

The other girl, whom Alanna could only assume was Abby, seemed to be making up for the other girl's chubbines with her own skinnyness. She was skin and bones to the point where Alanna wondered how she didn't break, and in the process of putting on far too much make-up. She finished her eyeliner and admired her reflection in the mirror, which smiled and winked back at her.

"Gosh, Maddie, you really should try this new diet I'm on; it's amazing..." She continued to admire her anorexic body in the mirror. Alanna rolled her eyes and looked back to the girl whom she now knew was Maddie. Sure, she was a tiny bit chubby, but hardly anywhere near heavy, and she was certainly prettier than the anorexically thin Abby.

Meanwhile, Emily was curling her eyelashes with her wand, and Sarah had somehow managed to be completely ready, sans make-up (which Alanna didn't remember her having worn anyway).

Alanna was just gathering the energy to start getting changed when heat and steam came out of the bathroom, shortly followed by a completely awake and ready Lily.

Fifteen minutes later, Sarah, Emily, Lily and Alanna headed down to the Great Hall (Maddie and Abby had left a few minutes before.) They spoke mainly of how Alanna was going to catch up on everything, as well as a number of random things, ranging from OWLs to the cute Ravenclaw who kept looking at Sarah. Emily, however, seemed to be slightly sidetracked the entire time, throwing occasional glances between Abby and Maddie at the other end of the table, and the entrance to the Great Hall.

When the Marauders finally came into breakfast, Emily jumped up, mumbling something about a charms question. She walked right up to them and Alanna was surprised to see them talking in low voices for a few moments.

Lily looked as confused as Alanna felt; _She_ was the Charms whiz, wouldn't Emily ask_ her_ a question about that if she needed?

-------------------------------------------------

Emily strutted confidently up to the Marauders. She saw how they were talking to Alanna yesterday. Alanna didn't yet know that the Marauder's were _hers_. She was sick of goody-goody Lily always accepting the random new and lost students. Couldn't she just leave everyone alone?

"Hey guys," She said in a tone that suggested that she was about to divulge something they would like to hear.

"Hi Emily..." Remus said politely, his greeting was echoed by the others.

"You guys know that new girl Alanna?" She said in an undertone, careful not to look back at the breakfast table. They all nodded slowly. Remus raised his eyebrows slightly and James glanced at the food distractedly-- he was the only one who wasn't incredibly interested in what was being said. He had Lily to obsess over, but Sirius and Peter were both infatuated with the girl. Remus was probably just being polite, as they all knew he had fancied Sarah since they were fourth years.

"Lily and Sarah don't want to tell you guys, I guess they're just too nice... You know, never want to hurt anybody's feelings. But that girl's been seriously bad mouthing you all!" She waited for their shocked expressions before continuing. "Yeah, I know, I couldn't believe it even as she said it. She was pretending to be so nice, too. I suppose you just have to watch out for those sneaky girls like that, eh?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Anwho, I just thought that I'd tell you guys, didn't want that nasty little whore taking advantage of you guys. I'd better go though... See you around!" With that, she made her way back to the table with a small self-satisfied smile, leaving a shocked group of Marauders behind.

"That was odd, I wonder what Alanna could have been saying?" Peter said as they made their way to the table.

Remus didn't look too concerned, "Just catty girl stuff, I'm sure," He sat down across from James and Sirius and next to Peter.

Sirius seemed to be deep in thought, he had really liked Emily since they were first years. But then, who wouldn't? She was gorgeous, from her deep blue eyes and flowing platinum hair to her slim but hour-glass figure, she was one of the most good-looking girls in their year. She and Sirius dated off and on and as she walked back to the table, swaying her hips ever so slightly as she walked, he wondered why they had ended it again. Shaking his head, he looked away from her retreating form.

"I believe her, I don't think I like this Alanna girl very much at all. She seemed to be just the type to try and take advantage of other people by making them believe she was a sweet and shy girl. "What was it that you were saying about her yesterday...?"

-------------------------------------------------

Emily sat back down near Lily, Sarah and Alanna and gave an exaggerated sigh. "They didn't know either."

"Are you surprised?" Lily was suspicious and didn't bother to hide it. "What was it that you wanted to know?"

Emily laughed lightly, as if to brush it off. "It was nothing important, really... so which class do we have first?"

Lily stared at her for a short moment, as if trying to see through to her true motives, before looking back at the table; she wasn't in an argumentative mood. "Potions with Slughorn. Then we've got Transfiguration."

Emily nodded and Sarah groaned. "Slughorn's out to get me! Seriously... I suck at potions. He always knows who the smart people are though, like you Lils." She grinned. Alanna made a face.

"Is potions really that difficult?" She asked, trying not to sound too worried. She ran a hand through her dark hair as she often did when she was nervous about something. This entire Hogwarts Thing was making her nervous. She took a sip of pumpkin juice, hoping it wasn't her hypoglycemia that was causing her anxiety. When her blood sugar became dangerously low, as it often did, she would get very anxious.

Lily shook her head and smiled reassuringly. "No it's not really bad at all. Professor Slughorn's pretty nice and it's almost like... cooking I suppose.. or maybe more like Chemistry class in muggle school." She looked at her watch and cringed. "We should probably leave now, class starts in five minutes and it's all the way in the dungeons." She gathered her things, and Alanna, Sarah and Emily followed her lead before heading off to potions.

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I can't even explain everything that's been taking me so long about this... I suppose it was mostly a lack of inspiration to write anything at all, which was just really bad and depressing and ugh. I think I'm in a bit more of a roll though now. I hope so, at least. I hate writer's block. I'm so sorry that it's been taking me ages to get each chapter out! Thanks sooo sooo much for all of your awesome reviews though, they're what keep me going. 


	7. Prank Time

For the umpteenth time, I'm terribly sorry for the collosal delay in getting this out. I hope it was worth the wait.

Disclaimer: Anything recognizeable belongs to the brilliant JK Rowling.

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Slughorn seemed very much as he was described in the books. He greeted Alanna but didn't seem overly impressed with her. Alanna sat down next to Sarah, and Lily and Emily sat in front of them. The marauders were sitting toward the back and all with the exception of Remus, were already unfocused.

Alanna looked around to see that they shared this class with the Slytherins, and rolled her eyes. Sarah nudged her and glanced at a blonde boy who was sitting next to a greasy haired someone with whom Alanna was already acquainted.

"I'd stay away from them if I were you," She whispered, "They're the worst kind of sleaze. Lily won't talk bad about them but I don't like them one bit." Alanna nodded, then glanced at the marauders. Sirius gave her a venemous look which made her stomach twist. She had liked him. Not only as a person, but she thought he was easily the best looking guy in the year. She looked back to Sarah, slightly depressed.

"Why does Sirius look like he wants to kill me?" She asked, trying not to look back at him. Sarah shrugged.

"They can be pretty weird sometimes, you never know." Sarah sighed.

Slughorn cleared his throat, "Right then, something new this year! Now that I've known you all for four years, I know your groups of friends. This year we're going to work on expanding our horizons. I shall pair you each up with somebody that you do not normally socialize with. I should hope that new friendships will bloom." There were collective groans and eye-rolls from both of the houses. "Oh-ho! You don't seem so enthusiastic! You may well be thanking me later... I'm going to read the names off of a list. When your partners are called, gather your things and find an empty table for yourselves. Right then!" He looked to his paper for a moment with a slight squint as if to aid his sight. Without looking up, he went straight to his list.

"Remus Lupin and Sarah Marino," Alanna heard Sarah sigh gratefully from beside her. She mouthed 'Good Luck' to Alanna before getting up and sitting next to Remus at a desk in the front.

"Lucius Malfoy and Rodolphus Lestrange, Marcus Goyle and Severus Snape, Bellatrix Black and Emily Sullivan-" Alanna heard an exaggerated sigh from Emily in front of her, and something that sounded almost like a growl coming from the Slytherin. Alanna began to space out, slightly amused at some of the pairings, but she started to grow more and more nervous with each name. most of the marauders were still available, as well as several Slytherins, suddenly she heard her name"...Alanna Reese and Antonin Dolohov, James Potter and Lily Evans..."

Alanna and Lily both said "What?" at the same time, but Lily's was in a much more violent manner. Slughorn had gone on to finish with Sirius being partnered with Abby, and Peter being paired with a cocky Slytherin boy whose name was Amycus Carrow.

Alanna's stomach dropped and she looked around, trying to figure out which one was Antonin Dolohov. She bit her lip and scowled. All she knew was that this guy was going to be a Death Eater, who knew what he was capable of by this point? Finally she asked Remus, who gave her a sympathetic look and pointed to a tall eastern Eastern European looking boy across the room.

Alanna swallowed dryly and tried to smile; maybe she could try and be friendly to him. "Hi, I'm Alanna-" She put her hand out to shake, but was greeted with a sneer.

"Don't touch me, Mudblood," He growled. Alanna scowled, and dumped her books on the desk. This just made her day. She glanced at Sirius and Abby. They seemed to be getting along all right enough. When Alanna caught Sirius' eye, she smiled at him but recieved another death glare in return.

-

Meanwhile, Lily was about ready to have a full-blown fit. Professor Slughorn_ knew_ that she and Potter didn't get along! Ignoring Potter's self-satisfied grin, she stalked up to the professor's desk the moment he finished calling names.

"Professor Slughorn, I'm sorry, but I can't see how Potter and I could possibly work together..." She tried to keep her tone even and polite, but it was a struggle.

Slughorn smiled at her. "Miss Evans, you are one of my brightest students, you know that? Mister Potter here happens to be fairly good himself. You could make a very good pair if you put your minds to it."

Lily wanted to scream that she couldn't EVER possibly work with Potter. She felt her face growing red and began tapping her foot anxiously but silently on the ground. "But sir, he's not serious enough... We don't work well together..."

Professor Slughorn simply smiled again. "The object of this is to help you learn to work with other students, Miss Evans. I'm sorry, but Mister Potter is going to be your partner for the remainder of the year."

"The-the _year_, sir?" Lily mentally cursed every person who was at fault for creating Potter, starting with his great great grandparents.

-

When Potions was over, everyone was happy to be out of the room. Alanna ran over to Lily, as Sarah was still chatting with Remus, and Emily had feigned a sudden illness halfway through class. All she got for the first few minutes though were rants about James, starting with how he chopped the Sneezewort, and ending with an approxamate guess of how many times he asked her out and how many ways she wanted to kill him.

Alanna sighed. "I'd switch with you, but Dolohov is definately worse. He kept... looking at me strangely, and... ew. He's an arse."

Lily nodded sympathetically, seeming to have finally finished her rant about James. "I dunno about worse than Potter, but I wouldn't hang around him. He's a perverted creep. But I suppose that's not a surprise? I hate to stereotype..." She shook her head.

-

Transfiguration went relatively uneventfully. McGonagall made a ravenclaw girl named Stacy Alanna's "tutor" to help her catch up on transfiguration. Stacy seemed interesting, with purple and black dyed hair, a pierced tongue and a very dry sense of humour, so it shouldn't go too badly. Alanna went down early to lunch, and as she walked to the Gryffindor table, she couldn't help but notice that a great many people seemed to be sniggering at her and staring. She looked around, embarassed, and tugged at her skirt to make sure it wasn't stuck in her underwear or something. She kept her head down and stared at the floor as she walked briskly to the table and sat down, where the staring continued.

She looked up at a second year who was goggling with the others. "What are you _looking_ at?" She demanded.

He immediately began to blush, "Er.. well... your face... and your shirt..."

Alanna hurriedly looked down at her shirt. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with it. And her face? She julmped up and ran back through the Great Hall and to the nearest bathroom and gasped when she saw her reflection in the mirror. Her face was completely... orange.

"When did this happen?" She muttered, frustrated and embarrassed. "Why do they hate me so much all of a sudden?" She knew who was probably behind this, and was more hurt than angry. She had so many mixed feelings about all of this. Why had she even wanted to come here? Why did this happen? She remembered that the boy had mentioned her shirt. She turned around, and tried to see in the mirror what was on it, but it was impossible to read the large letters. Not caring if anybody walked in, she ripped off her shirt to read it. In large letters as orange as her own face, it read: "TANNING SPELLS: NOT TO BE ATTEMPTED BY IDIOTIC FOOLS."

Alanna scowled and turned the shirt inside out before putting it back on. She turned on the sink and tried to wash off the orange-ness, but it was to no avail. She let her dark wavy hair down from its ponytail and attempted to cover her face with it. Without further ado, she left the bathroom and took off at a run out of the castle. She didn't stop running until she was at the far side of the lake, where she collapsed behind a tree to cry angry and embarrassed tears. After a few minutes, she calmed down and started to think about ways to get up into the Gryffindor tower without being seen. She finally decided that she would have to just wait until everyone was at class and pretend she was sick when she got caught late.

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I know, I know; the end is really half-assed and it's a crappy place to stop, but I just couldn't delay this any longer. Please review, it will make me want to update this more often. 


	8. The Tutor

Disclaimer: Not mine. Still JKRowling's. Thanks sooo much for all of you who have been reviewing, it what keeps me going through the writer's block!

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Alanna had rushed through the halls the moment class would have started, careful to remain in the shadows as she went. When she finally reached the Gryffindor common room (with some aid from a helpful portrait) there were two people, who could have been sixth or seventh years, sitting in the common room. They appeared to be rather engrossed in their textbooks. Careful not to alert them of her presence, she flicked her hair in front of her face once again and tiptoed across the floor before dashing up the stairs to the fifth year girls' dormitories. Hastily, she jumped in the shower, hoping that the spell would somehow wash off. But five minutes and several magical soaps later, she shone as orange as ever, perhaps even brighter than before. She glared at the magically fog-free mirror, which gave her a sympathetic look in return.

She rummaged through the various cabinets until she found a bottle that looked promising. It read "Skin clear: guaranteed to cover blemishes of all sorts for up to twelve hours." It had a teenage witch on the front who went from a frowning pimply girl to a smiling clear faced one, before going back again.Only wondering for a moment to whom this belonged, and justifying herself by vowing to replace it later (though she knew she likely wouldn't), she opened the top and rubbed the cream over her face hopefully. She grinned as relief flooded through her; though her skin still held a slightly orange tint, she was almost entirely back to her usual colour. Quickly, she rubbed it into the rest of her face, neck and hands, before throwing on some fresh school robes and whisking back down the corridors (with specific directions from the Fat Lady) to the DADA class she was supposed to be in. By the time she reached the classroom, she was significantly late and had to stop and catch her breath a moment before entering. The professor, a stern looking older woman with short gray hair and smart blue robes seemed to be staring her down for a moment and an awkward silence persisted until Alanna built up the nerve to speak (not before throwing an icy glare at James and Sirius, who were silently sniggering at their handiwork.)

"Er, I'm sorry, professor, I -- er, got lost. It won't happen again."

The professor looked at her sternly, seeming to search her face for deceit, before finally settling with, "Well I should hope not. I am well aware that you have missed my first class, but tardiness will not be acceptable and shall have dire consequences in the future. Let this be your warning."

Alanna nodded awkwardly, feeling rather than seeing the other students staring at her. Unsure of what to do next, she stood there waiting for an invitation to sit.

"I am Professor Tatnall, by the way. And please do take a seat before wasting any more of our time." Alanna glanced around and was relieved and somewhat uplifted to see that Lily had saved the seat next to her for her, Alanna.

Professor Tatnall went on the describe various dueling spells and protective counter-jinxes as Alanna struggled to keep up. Finally, the professor told them to practice the counter jinxes they had just learned. Lily turned to face Alanna as conversations around the room broke out abruptly.

"You weren't actually lost, were you?" Lily said, taking note of Alanna's still slightly orange complexion. "What happened? Sarah, Em and I were looking for you."

Alanna sighed and explained what had happened, and Lily looked about ready to erupt by the time she was through talking. When Lily pulled out her wand, Alanna was sure that it was to lay siege upon Potter. But instead she thought a moment before muttering a counter-spell to Alanna's unfortunate skin colour.

Lily sighed and pocked her wand again. "A simple charm, really. Only two dolts who would cast it on you."

Alanna nodded knowingly, adding darkly, "Yeah, no prize for guessing who," not without a certain amount of hostility.

The remainder of the class went by rather smoothly, with Lily carefully explaining and teaching Alanna each counter-jinx with more patience than Alanna could possibly have hoped for. That is, until near the end of class, when Professor Tatnall called none other than Sirius Black up to her desk. Had Alanna been watching, instead of deflecting the tickling jinx that Lily had sent flying at her (and only being very minimally successful in this attempt), she would have noticed how his face went from a look of mild interest, to incredulity, to a brief flicker of loathing. But this all happened in less than a moment as it were, and by the time Professor Tatnall had called Alanna herself up to the desk, his face was as expressionless as a stone mask.

Professor Tatnall smiled slightly-- a smile that looked strangely drawn and out of place on such a stern face, as Alanna approached her desk. Alanna herself was walking very slowly, hoping that Black had nothing to do with her and would leave before she reached the desk. But when she got there, he hadn't budged an inch and seemed to have no intention of leaving (though surely he wanted nothing more than to leave.)

"Miss Reese, I'm sure you have met Mister Black, have you not?" Alanna had to struggle not to look contemptuous as she nodded, avoiding eye contact with him whatsoever. She certainly knew him, all right. As unfortunate as that was. Professor Tatnall continued, undaunted. "He is the top of this class, and is to be your peer tutor for Defense Against the Dark Arts this year."

Alanna looked up in shock, just in time to see a variety of feelings flash through Sirius' stormy eyes-- none of which were pleasant.

_Fantastic_, she thought, _just fantastic._

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I know, I know; It's pathetic and short. Pathetically short. But school has been crazy and I knew if I didn't at least get this bit to you, it might take even LONGER. Thank you so much to those of you who have been reviewing and reading. I really really appreciate it very much. 


	9. Dates and Duplicity

Alanna trudged up to the library as though walking toward her own death. She could think of thousands of things she'd rather be doing (dying, for instance) than spending the next hour with Black. She still didn't understand why the marauders had developed a sudden and intense hatred for her, but she wasn't really anxious to find out if it meant confronting them.

She sighed and pushed open the library door, quickly spotting the object of her musings. He was sitting at a table in the far back, looking altogether unwelcoming and somehow handsome and irritating at the same time. Handsomely irritating. Or perhaps irritatingly handsome.

oOo

Lily bounced into the common room, quickly spotting Sarah and Emily.

"Hey Lils, we were wondering where you were. Is Alanna with you?" Sarah's words came with a poorly suppressed yawn, which was immediately passed on to Emily and then Lily.

"Noo, prefect meeting, remember? And isn't Alanna getting tutored by the oh-so-charming Black today?"

"Oh yeah! Definitely can't wait to hear about that."

Emily looked rather eager to direct the subject away from Sirius and her new not-so-friend.

"So, Lils, what did you guys do in the prefect meeting?'

Lily plopped herself down in the nearest overstuffed armchair and smiled.

"Why, the Hallowe'en Ball, of course!" Lily laughed, "It's going to be fantastic." She grinned but only for a moment.

"Not that I'll be going with anyone. The only person who would go with me is that twit Potter." She sighed hopelessly.

"Oh pu-leaze. Lils, you know that any guy in his right mind would go with you. You're hot!"

Lily snorted disbelievingly. "Right, Sarah. I think you're confusing me with Em. Or maybe yourself."

"Don't think so, Lily darling." She looked around the room, eyes locking on a sixth year, Tiberius McLaggen.

"Oh no you--" Lily didn't get any farther before being cut off by a very determined Sarah.

"Oi, Ty!"

Lily hid her face behind her hands as the boy walked over. She looked helplessly at Em, who clearly was not about to help her.

Sarah was grinning from ear to ear, "Hey, Ty, are you taking anyone to the Hallowe'en ball?"

_Way to beat around the bush._

McLaggen looked slightly puzzled and shook his head, "No I haven't really thought about it yet."

Lily groaned inwardly at how awkward this situation was becoming.

"What Sarah means," Interrupted Lily, "Is that we're--" We're what? Dateless?

"Err... Hi, I'm Lily," She ended, blushing madly and wishing she could shrink into the floor and disappear. The absurdity of the conversation was increasing with each word.

"I've seen you around," He said, half grinning in a cocky sort of way, but she was more focused on how ridiculous this was than how Potter-like this guy seemed to be.

"So," he continued, now speaking directly to Lily. "Would you like to go to the Hallowe'en Ball with me?"

Ordinarily the answer would have been a curt "no," perhaps with an added well-said snarky remark, but today she had a different thought process: If she went to the dance with McLaggen, than she was no longer 'available.' If she wasn't available than Potter would know he didn't stand a chance and would stop asking her out. Theoretically. Brilliant.

Lily smiled brightly and threw Sarah a grateful glance.

"I'd love to go to the ball with you."

oOo

Sirius' method of greeting Alanna was a promise that this was not his idea and that she could go drop dead, for all he cared.

For all she dreaded this moment, now that it was here it wasn't so bad. "Really Sirius? I mean, I've been looking forward to this all day." She grinned for a split second then rolled her eyes before sitting down on the chair opposite him.

"So, what are we doing first?" Alanna pulled her hair out of her ponytail and began to twirl it idly between her fingers, wishing time would just hurry up and pass.

Sirius got up abruptly, "leaving the library. I reserved a room in the back that's sound-proof so we don't 'disturb' anyone." He began to walk toward the back of the library, where apparently the room was situated. Alanna got up and glanced around, wondering how good an idea it was to go into a room with someone who hated her and was more skilled at magic than herself. Sirius noticed her stalling.

"What, scared?" He asked, smirking.

Alanna scowled and pushed past him, though she ultimately had to wait for him to show her where they were going.

When they entered the room, Sirius pulled his wand from his pocket. "Take out your wand, I'm going to teach you the disarming spell."

Alanna took her wand out, and they began. The entire time Sirius said only what had to be and not a word more. He didn't laugh, or smile. He insulted her every so often but his heart wasn't even really into that either. By the time they finished she had a shaky at best handle on disarming spells and stunners (though Sirius wouldn't let her stun him, as he didn't trust her. She only stunned portraits and a mouse.)

oOo

When Alanna arrived back in the Common Room, the only people who remained were Lily, Sarah and Em, as well as a few first and second years. Lily looked to be in a strange sort of shock and Sarah was giggling madly. Alanna smiled when she saw them.

"What did I miss?" She asked, sitting down on the floor, as all of the nearest seats were occupied.

"You missed _everything!_" Em said, cerulean eyes sparkling gleefully. She went on to explain in great and exaggerated detail how McLaggen asked Lily to go to the Hallowe'en ball with him, and how they were going on a date tomorrow in Hogsmede. Alanna smiled and told Lily how lucky she was that she was going on a date. Mentally though, two red flags were going off in her mind: _What about James! I know it's just one date, but Harry better happen!_ Closely followed by, _I hope this McLaggen is nothing like his son or nephew or whoever Cormac is..._

oOo

Em smiled as she went to bed. Alanna had complained extensively about the annoyance that was Sirius. Her plan was working out better than she had even hoped it would._ He is so mine, you annoying brat. _

* * *

Sorry this took a little while to get out. I had final exams and they just ended so now I'm freeeee. And also, more will be happening in the next couple of chapters. Yay for drama. lol. Thanks SO much to those who have been reviewing, I really appreciate it a lot and enjoy reading what you guys have to say. That's what keeps me motivated. 


	10. Hogsmede Weekend

Sorry about the wait, though I suppose it wasn't too long this time.

Disclaimer: Not mine, most of the characters are JK Rowlings, as is the whole world.

* * *

Alanna came to the next morning to a persistent tickling sensation on her nose. She scrunched it, still not opening her eyes despite the red glow against her lids that told her the sun was well up. The tickling continued. She swatted at her nose. Suddenly a high-pitched giggle erupted from next to her bed. Her eyes flew open this time, and she squinted at the assault of light attacking her sensitive eyes. When the glare faded, Sarah was keeled over, feather quill clutched firmly in hand, reduced to a fit of hysterics. Alanna scowled and sat up, then gave her a small smile.

"Too early," she groaned, throwing the covers off herself in an attempt to join the living. She yawned and stretched her arms above her head sleepily.

Sarah had sobered up somewhat and had proceeded to shove her watch within inches of Alanna's bleary gray eyes. "It's one O'Clock in the afternoon, Lily's out with McLaggen, Em's turned traitor and is snogging downstairs--"

Alanna had jumped out of her bed upon hearing that she had slept away half of her Sunday, but laughed when it was mentioned that Em had somehow found someone to snog between last night and now. "Who could she possibly be snogging alread--- Ouuuuuuccccch" she had slammed her toe rather painfully into an uneven floorboard, and began hopping around the dormitory muttering expletives.

Sarah sighed and pulled at her mahogany curls, ignoring Alanna's predicament. "That's the treasonous part... She's down there making out with _Black._"

Alanna stopped her bouncing mid-hop, momentarily forgetting her throbbing toe. "_What?_"

Sarah nodded and rolled her eyes. "She seems unaware of the fact that we all hate half of the Marauders. The exceptions being Remus and sometimes Peter." She sighed. "Oh well, Are you up for some lunch? I've been waiting for you to get up!"

Alanna nodded half-heartedly; she really wasn't in the mood to go anywhere near Sirius and Em, and wasn't quite sure of which she was more furious at: Sirius, for being happy when it seemed that he made a concerted effort to make her life hell, or Em, for claiming to be their friend while she was hooking up with their enemy. Not even bothering to shower, she threw on some robes before meandering out of the bathroom and collapsing on the bed.

"Don't they have room service here?" She asked, barely stifling another yawn.

Against her better judgment, Alanna found herself walking into the common room moments later, passing Sirius and Em, who were indeed locking lips on the over-stuffed couch in the center of the common room. Mercifully, they were both much too involved with each other to notice Alanna and Sarah, who hurriedly made out of the room before heading off to the Great Hall.

oOo

After a few hours in Hogsmede, Lily finally managed to extricate herself from McLaggen, after a rather boring date that consisted of much talk (by McLaggen, of course) of Quidditch and politics and other things Lily didn't find much interest in, as well as a bit of kissing. While Lily couldn't deny that Ty was a good kisser, it was certainly not worth the aggravation of his personality. She had thanked him for the 'good time,' (lying through her teeth) and walked calmly out of Madam Puddifoots, before breaking into a run up the path that led toward Hogwarts. She stopped short of the gate, and regained her composure before entering the castle.

Lily took her time walking to the Gryffindor tower, wondering where Sarah, Emily and Alanna might be. As she entered the common room, part of her question was answered immediately; Sarah stood in the center of the common room, talking to Peter.

"Where are James and Remus?" She asked, exasperated. Peter squirmed under her gaze.

"I dunno," He answered, "I-- er, I've got to go," He said, before rushing past Lily in his haste to leave.

"What was that about?" Lily asked, confused. Sarah shrugged and sat down on the couch, sighing. Lily sat down across from her on an overstuffed chair.

"I want to talk to James and Remus," Sarah said, twirling her wand between her fingers idly. "I want to find out what's up with Em and Sirius, and why James and Sirius are treating Alanna like she's dirt," She explained at Lily's rather befuddled expression. That's when Lily realized that neither Alanna nor Em were present, and she looked around, as though they were hiding behind one of the over-stuffed chairs.

"Where's Alanna?" She asked, not mentioning Em, as it seemed Sarah didn't seem quite in the mood to discuss their other friend.

"She's with that Ravenclaw, Stacy," She said, looking at her watch, "You know, her transfiguration tutor.. I don't see why we can't be her tutors..."

oOo

Alanna had been with Stacy, who was wearing a very odd assortment of muggle and wizarding clothing of all colours, for almost an hour, attempting to turn a match into a needle. But it was no good; she simply couldn't, no matter how hard she tried. She secretly knew she was a rubbish witch, and besides, she could hardly think about matchsticks or needles when someone she thought was a friend was making out with her enemy, who also happened to be some sort of bizarre crush to her. She said the spell, and the match twitched, but remained very match-like. Stacy sighed, and pulled out her own wand.

"Here, look again. All you have to do is twitch your wand, like this--" She demonstrated, and the match straightened and became more shiny and silver, with a sharp end,"--it's a bit of a wrist flick, you don't have to flourish it at all... you try, go on," She set a fresh match on the table, and Alanna tried again, feeling quite pathetic. She pushed all of her other thoughts from her mind, and focused for once on the spell, seeing that Stacy's patience was wearing thinner as her jokes became fewer and farther between. With a flick, the match transfigured into a needle, and Alanna grinned, feeling quite pleased with herself despite the enormous time and effort this one simple spell had cost her.

Stacy whooped, ecstatic, "Way to go!"

oOo

Alanna joined Lily and Sarah at almost nine O'Clock, feeling exhausted. "What've you all been doing?" She asked, though she really wasn't listening that much. Lily went on to explain how McLaggen was almost as much of a pain as Potter. She was just describing how he had gone on a rant about the Chudley Cannons when Emily entered the common room, quite alone.

"Hey guys," She said, beaming. "What have you all been up to?" She pushed a first year over on the couch, and sat down next to Sarah. Alanna scowled.

"Not snogging pompous toe-rags?" She offered, clearly making no attempt to hide her displeasure at Emily's behaviour all day.

"Speak for yourself," Lily groaned flatly, hunching down a little lower in her chair and looking slightly embarrassed.

"What?" Em said, a look of utter innocence flushing her face, but it was obvious that she was about as saint-like as a Norwegian Ridgeback, and Alanna snapped.

"What's wrong with you, Emily?" She demanded, her face flushing with colour. A few second and third years who were in the immediate vicinity stopped what they were doing to watch the show, but Alanna ignored them, and so did Emily and Lily. Sarah glared at a few of them, causing them to at least pretend they weren't completely listening in to what was going on. Alanna continued, undaunted, "You know that none of us like him, and he's a downright arse to me. So the first chance you get you go off and ditch us so that you can snog him all day?" She was close to yelling by now, almost completely unhinged. Without waiting for an answer, she clattered up the stairs, and changed quickly into her pyjamas so that she could just go to bed. As she got into bed, though, she saw a great full moon glowing eerily from outside the window, and shuddered; she knew why Sarah had been having trouble finding the Marauders, and wondered what Em had really just been doing, as there was no way she had been snogging Sirius.

She feigned sleep as Sarah and Lily came up to try and talk to her, and soon it came, mercifully dragging her off into the world of her dreams, both pleasant and otherwise.

* * *

I hope you're all enjoying this very Potter-filled summer, don't know about you all, but I just finished Deathly Hallows and it was very, very intense. I could still include it into this fic, too, if you guys wouldn't mind, so **_PLEASE _**tell me whether you would like me to incorporate what we've learned from the Deathly Hallows into this fic, or if you would prefer I keep it as an AU sort of thing. 


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